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Speaker 1: Crime Alart hourly update breaking crime news Now.

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Speaker 2: I'm Nicole Parton. A former police chief from Arkansas who

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Speaker 2: is currently serving lengthy prison sentences for first degree murder

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Speaker 2: and rape, escape from custody on Sunday while donning a

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Speaker 2: makeshift law enforcement uniform. According to officials from the Arkansas

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Speaker 2: Department of Corrections, Grant Harden, fifty six, and the former

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Speaker 2: chief of police for Gateway, made his escape around three

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Speaker 2: forty pm from the North Central Unit located in Calico Rock.

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Speaker 2: As of Sunday evening, authorities were actively still searching for him.

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Speaker 2: Details regarding the circumstances of Harden's escape have not been disclosed,

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Speaker 2: but it was noted that he was dressed in an

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Speaker 2: improvised outfit resembling that of law enforcement at the time

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Speaker 2: of his disappearance. He was not in a Department of

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Speaker 2: Corrections uniform, and all issued equipment has been accounted for.

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Speaker 2: The statement clarified. Harden has been incarcerated since two thousand

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Speaker 2: and seven, serving a thirty year sentence for first degree murder,

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Speaker 2: as well as a fifty year sentence on a separate

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Speaker 2: rape conviction. In a social media post, the Stone County

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Speaker 2: Sheriff's Office warned the public, stating that he is considered

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Speaker 2: extremely dangerous and should not be approached. For more. Here's

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Speaker 2: Brandon Long from the Sheriff's Office.

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Speaker 3: Arkansas State Police and Izard County Sheriff's Office walking the

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Speaker 3: roads down, trying to, you know, and ensure that maybe

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Speaker 3: wherever he is, he is going to be searching for

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Speaker 3: a vehicle. He's going to try to get a vehicle,

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Speaker 3: and we don't know, we don't have any information make

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Speaker 3: us think he's going to come into our county specifically

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Speaker 3: that we feel like he is going to get a

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Speaker 3: vehicle at some point and goes somewhere. So we've got

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Speaker 3: the roadways leading into our county from Mirad County or

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Speaker 3: at the county line, I should say tell Mirad County

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Speaker 3: is shut down and we are checking vehicles. I don't

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Speaker 3: feel like he's get a whole lot of choice, but

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Speaker 3: to get the vehicle, you know, not whether he just

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Speaker 3: kills a vehicle or he takes him one office with

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Speaker 3: the vehicle, as is our biggest figure.

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Speaker 2: In October twenty seventeen, Harden pleaded guilty to the murder

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Speaker 2: of James Appleton, a fifty nine year old city employee,

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Speaker 2: in Gateway. Appleton was shot while conversing with his brother

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Speaker 2: in law, Andrew Tillman, who was then the mayor of Gateway,

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Speaker 2: inside his vehicle in February of twenty seventeen. As detailed

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Speaker 2: in court documents, Harden held the position of police chief

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Speaker 2: in the small town near the Missouri border for about

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Speaker 2: four months in early twenty sixteen. He has a background

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Speaker 2: as a police officer, county constable, and corrections officer. In

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Speaker 2: February twenty eighteen, DNA evidence linked him to the nineteen

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Speaker 2: ninety seven cold case rape of a teacher, Amy Harrison

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Speaker 2: at Frank Tillery Elementary School, leading to his guilty plea

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Speaker 2: and subsequent fifty year sentence for that crime as well.

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Speaker 2: The Division one of Corrections is collaborating with local, state,

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Speaker 2: and federal law enforcement agencies to pursue all leads regarding

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Speaker 2: Harden's disappearance. The search is a coordinated effort involving the

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Speaker 2: doc and the Arkansas State Police. Officials are employing various

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Speaker 2: methods to track Harden and are investigating the circumstances surrounding

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Speaker 2: his escape. The statement indicated additional updates will be released

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Speaker 2: as they become available. Authorities are urging anyone with information

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Speaker 2: about Harden's whereabouts to reach out to law enforcement immediately

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Speaker 2: and to consider him armed and dangerous. For crime and

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Speaker 2: Justice news after this.

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Speaker 1: How could a beautiful young first grade teacher be stabbed

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Speaker 1: twenty times, including in the back, allegedly die of suicide? Yes,

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Speaker 1: that was the medical examiner's official ruling after a door meeting,

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Speaker 1: he first named it a homicide. Why what Happened to

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Speaker 1: Ellen Greenberg? A huge American miscarriage of justice. For an

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Speaker 1: in depth look at the facts, see what Happened to

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Speaker 1: Ellen on Amazon. All proceeds to the National Center for

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Speaker 1: Missing and Exploited Children.

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Speaker 2: Katie Talbert was only sixteen years old when she disappeared

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Speaker 2: from her home in Klamath County, Oregon. That was on

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Speaker 2: May one, nineteen ninety eight. Her sister, Susy is now

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Speaker 2: expressing hope that a newly created age progression image by

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Speaker 2: a forensic artist at NCMEC could lead to new information

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Speaker 2: in the ongoing search for Katie. As the eldest of

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Speaker 2: five siblings, Katie was a dedicated student at Mizama High School.

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Speaker 2: At the time she went missing. She was living with

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Speaker 2: her aunt and uncle on the fateful May afternoon. Authorities

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Speaker 2: report that can Haiti gathered a few personal items and

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Speaker 2: left her uncle's home to meet a boy near the

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Speaker 2: Dairy Queen on East Main Street. She was never seen again.

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Speaker 2: Now twenty seven years later, Susie continues her quest for

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Speaker 2: answers regarding her sister's disappearance. Katie Talbot, now missing twenty

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Speaker 2: seven years. Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is asked

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Speaker 2: to please call one eight hundred the Lost. For the

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Speaker 2: latest crime injustice news. Follow Crime Alert hourly update on

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Speaker 2: your favorite podcasting app with this crime Alert. I'm Nico Barton.